White influenced Cape issues

I received an email this week that was a little sad. A friend has announced that, "My time as a humane activist on Cape Cod has come to an end. My motel is up for sale and I'm moving up to New Hampshire to help my family and help influence the 2016 presidential elections!" Since we rarely agree about methods, I can't wish him all that much luck in this endeavor, but perhaps we can both get the outcomes we agree upon.

By CYNTHIA STEAD

capecodtimes.com

By CYNTHIA STEAD

Posted Jan. 9, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By CYNTHIA STEAD

Posted Jan. 9, 2014 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

I received an email this week that was a little sad. A friend has announced that, "My time as a humane activist on Cape Cod has come to an end. My motel is up for sale and I'm moving up to New Hampshire to help my family and help influence the 2016 presidential elections!" Since we rarely agree about methods, I can't wish him all that much luck in this endeavor, but perhaps we can both get the outcomes we agree upon.

Peter White came to Cape Cod with his family in 1995. He had a bachelor's degree in business administration and a master's degree in community economic development, and community organizing became his life's work. He's never been much for conventional partisan politics, with the "Republicrats" as he calls them. He was involved in the Citizens Party, the Consumer Party, and longest with the Green Party. He ran for selectman in Yarmouth as a Green, but ran for Congress as an independent and says he plans to remain one.

Not actually holding elective office hasn't diminished Peter's influence. Unlike many who are all rhetoric, Peter embodies practical and measurable elements to his efforts, perhaps a product of his business education. His hotel in Mashpee, Plaza del Sol, is a green building. He was also the genesis for the solar panels at Yarmouth Town Hall, and he's worked on other renewable and conservation efforts across the Cape. Also, as part of his commitment to end homelessness, Peter's motel is a source of transitional housing for homeless working families.

Peter's political advocacy takes him to unexpected places. When he attended tea party meetings in Hyannis a while ago, he spoke eloquently about ending the "Wars for Oil," bringing home the troops, using the peace dividend to lower budget deficits and fund education and other community needs, and ending taxpayer subsidies for Wall Street financial institutions, along with with curbing and dismantling federal excess and intrusion into private lives. He was a tremendous hit with the Ron Paul and Liberty activists there, far more in sympathy with their foreign policy than I was, but we were united in our desire to reform the tax code.

Other efforts, like closing the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station and Occupy Wall Street, I have less sympathy for, but the good thing about Peter is that he is willing to work with others who may not agree with him on everything.

Right now, his top issue is to overturn the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court which allowed corporations to spend money in federal elections. As Peter says, "Every other issue is connected to this corruption of our politicians." State Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, filed a bill, which passed the House and Senate, decrying "this corporate takeover of the First Amendment, which has reached its extreme conclusion in the United States Supreme Court's recent ruling in Citizens United v. FEC" and demanding that Congress pass a constitutional amendment to overturn it. You likely saw it at town meeting as well.

When Peter first emailed me about this, I told him that, in my opinion, all Citizens United did was to level the playing field for business against union donations, which had funded political campaigns for decades, and I could not support his effort unless those funds were excluded as well. He checked and got back to me that unions would also be banned under the proposed amendment (which I am not sure the state Legislature realized when it voted for the resolution; it seemed to me that they were more interested in restoring the status quo, where unions could support incumbents and businesses couldn't support any challenger).

Peter said that "only natural citizens" would be able to donate to campaigns. Now that is something I could get behind — for entirely different reasons than Peter, perhaps, but the resulting decrease in campaign spending and influence would be a beneficial thing for the system and would allow many more challengers to run without being independently wealthy or in hock to a party or interest.

Peter sent his best to "everyone who cares about helping others and cleaning up Mother Nature." Those of opposing philosophies have much in common with each other and their real opponents are those who are indifferent and uninvolved. So thank you, Peter White, for provoking discussion all these years and good luck in your new home.